Lean manufacturing and operational performance

Abstract

Purpose Lean manufacturing (LM) constitutes a consolidated alternative that has been successfully used to increase company effectiveness and performance. However, different studies have shown that many companies that attempt to integrate LM into their manufacturing operations fail in their efforts. Recent studies have shown that soft practices are a key factor for a successful LM implementation. The purpose of this paper is to analyze an in-depth review of the different human-related lean practices (HRLP) referenced in the recent literature and to identify which of them are more relevant to a successful LM implementation. Design/methodology/approach The findings presented in this paper are based on the results of a study about the situation of LM in Spain carried out with lean production managers and frontline supervisors of 202 Spanish companies with a high percent (74 percent) of international firms with factories in different countries. The implemented methodology uses factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Findings The results shows statistical evidence of the relationship between management’s HRLP (fostering a lean culture, providing support to lean), employees’ HRLP (employee involvement and employee empowerment) and operational performance (OP) (waste reduction and flexibility). Practical implications The results have academic and practical relevance for clarifying lean phenomena, helping managers to define a sequence in which a company should implement HRLP to successfully implement LM and increase its OP. Originality/value This study fills a research gap by exploring the existing causal relationships between a greater number of variables, both dependent and independent in relation to human factors in LM implementations.

Impact of lean service, workplace environment, and social practices on the operational performance of India post service industry

“…The study revealed that task orientation leaders were more interested in incorporating LMP than relation orientation leaders. A study conducted by Hernandez-Matias et al ( 2019 ) in Spanish 202 manufacturing companies showed that Human-Related Lean Practices (HRLP) had a significant relationship with OP. By considering the above, the following hypothesis is formulated:…”

Impact of Lean Manufacturing Practices on Operational and Business Performance: Evidence from Sri Lankan Food Industry

“…Companies can avoid sudden machine breakdowns from the implementation of total preventive maintenance, which leads to reduced maintenance costs. Lean practices related to human re-sources leads to significant increases in operational performance in terms of waste reduction and flexibility (Hernandez-Matias et al, 2019). Greater employee involvement and empowerment represents essential HRM elements in achieving these performance improvements.…”

“…Quality management or TQM is another important aspect of lean manufacturing, which represents a set of interrelated initiatives to assure the quality of the products and the equipment used to manufacture them (Yang et al, 2011). The human resource aspect of lean has been largely addressed in earlier research as employee involvement and empowerment are essential elements of successful lean implementation (Dal Pont et al, 2008;Hernandez-Matias et al, 2019;Yang et al, 2011).…”

“…Just-in-time (JIT), Total Quality Management (TQM), Total Preventive Maintenance (TPM), and Human Resource Management (HRM) are the most commonly used lean practices in firms and therefore, have been addressed in several studies (e.g. Dal Pont, Furlan, & Vinelli, 2008;Dora, Van Goubergen, Kumar, Molnar, & Gellynck, 2014;Hernandez-Matias, Ocampo, Hidalgo, & Vizan, 2019;Nordin et al, 2010). Practicing lean helps organizations to achieve sustainability as waste elimination provides economic, social as well as environmental advantages.…”

Lean Maintenance 4.0: An application of the IoT Technology in the facility management industry

“…The term "Lean" was coined by researchers at the International Motor Vehicle Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [14]. This term is generally associated with the automotive company Toyota [15]where the engineer Taichi ohno and the legendary shigeo shingo built the temple of the Toyota production TPS.…”